


The Dreamer

by FireFaceOutlook



Series: ZoLu Week, 2k17 [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU, modern day AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 23:32:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11497110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireFaceOutlook/pseuds/FireFaceOutlook
Summary: A lucid dream is a dream during which the dreamer is aware of dreaming. During lucid dreaming, the dreamer may be able to exert some degree of control over the dream characters, narrative, and environment.





	The Dreamer

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: I decided to combine Day 2 and 3 because why not? Anyway, let's see how this goes. Also, I don't actually know anything about kendo competitions, so, yeah. Enjoy!**

_“Hey, it's you again!”_

_Zoro whipped around, sword raised, and he barely managed to stop himself from lopping off the head of the boy behind him._

__

_“Don't_ do _that,” he complained, heart pounding so hard in his chest that he could feel it in his throat. “Where have you been? Don't go running off on your own in the middle of the fucking apocalypse!” He felt silly, scolding someone from his dream, but this character had been around so long that he couldn't help but see him as a real person._

_Luffy, as the apparition called himself, just laughed gleefully, scratching the back of his head. “Sorry, sorry.” He obviously wasn't sorry. “We've never been in a situation like this before. Why--”_

_“Zombie movie marathon,” Zoro grumbled. “It was Robin's night to pick the genre, and she always has the most terrifying tastes.”_

_Luffy nodded with a mock-serious expression and held up a pipe. “I found a weapon. Now I can protect you!”_

_“Excuse me?”_

_Before they could dissolve into friendly bickering, a cacophony of moans sounded outside the room and Zoro gesture towards the window._

_“Let's get out of here.”_

_“Yeah,” Luffy agreed. “I'm hungry!”_

_Zoro's groan joined that of the horde of zombies as they made their escape._

  
Zoro was a lucid dreamer, according to his friend, Robin.

“Most people aren't so aware of the details of their dreams,” she explained. “And you say that you control what goes on in it sometimes?”

He nodded as he drained his bottle of Gatorade. Due to the insistent prodding (and crocodile tears) of Chopper, he agreed to decrease his intake of alcoholic beverages, even though he couldn't get drunk and it, so far, hadn't brought about any detrimental effects to his body.

“Yeah. It was a zombie apocalypse dream last night--” He gave her a glare that she pointedly ignored. “--and Luffy got bit because he is a moron. He was getting sick and I was worried he was going to turn or die, but then it miraculously turned out that he was immune to it.”

Robin hummed, smiling. “Interesting. Keep me updated on these dreams.”

“Sure.” His phone buzzed in his pocket and when he pulled it out, he saw it was his alarm. “I gotta go to work. Don't want to be fired.”

She nodded and waved him off and he promised to visit soon as he left.

  


_“Wow, Zoro, you make a pretty good tiger.”_

_Zoro blinked himself awake at the voice above his head and and glanced up to find a monkey with Luffy's clothes and straw hat dangling from a tree branch that extended over him. He slowly sat up and looked over himself. He couldn't help but feel a tinge of annoyance when he found that his fur was as green as his hair, but he could hear his earrings clicking together with his movement and his haramaki still sat around his middle, so that cooled his temper a little._

_“You look the same as always,” he commented in return, eyeing his tail as it patted against the ground a few times. He was sure it had a mind of its own because he definitely wasn't telling it to move_.

_“Thanks, shishishi!”_

_The thinly veiled insult went right over the idiot's head and that made Zoro want to smirk except he was pretty sure he couldn't do that as a giant cat._

_“Let's go explore,” Luffy said, and it wasn't a suggestion, but all of Zoro's dreams turned into adventures with Luffy in the end, and what else was there to do?_

_Zoro rose to all four paws and grunted as a heavy weight settled onto his back. Luffy's fingers buried themselves into the fur at his neck and his toes dug into Zoro's sides. Zoro rolled his eyes, a sound that was suspiciously similar to a purr escaping his throat in huffs as he and his friend ventured further into the thick trees._

  


“It's called 'chuffing,'” Robin corrected when he recounted the dream to her later. “Tigers can't purr, so they chuff when they're happy.”

 _When they're happy, huh?_ What did it say about him that a fictional person that his mind has conjured up made him happy? It took a lot to make him genuinely feel happy, especially after he lost the ability to wield swords and take part in kendo competitions due to an injury he received when facing the man who was the world's greatest swordsman. Now it was hard to even do morning exercises due to the painful pull of the scar tissue across his torso, not that it stopped him. And sure, his friends – Robin, Chopper, Franky, and Perona – made him happy, but Luffy? He wasn't even real.

“Zoro.” Robin's hand settled on his and he raised his eyes to hers. She smiled softly at him. “I'm glad these dreams are taking a positive turn.”

She was referring to his many nightmares in the past of his loss and injury. It'd haunted him for so long, until one night, as he was struggling to remain standing and face his fate, waiting for the blade to slice through his skin and ruin his life, the pain never came. He lowered his eyes from where they were locked on the ceiling and he found a boy stopping the blade with his bare hands, blood running down his arms. As the kid turned to look at Zoro, he caught sight of a deadly serious look on his face for a split second before it turned into a blinding grin.

 _“Shishishi~ That was close! Are you alright?”_ Luffy had asked, and Zoro fell to his knees with tears threatening to fall from his eyes because even then, he knew that the nightmares were about to morph into something new – something better.

“Thanks Robin.” He got alerted from his work alarm and stood. Robin stood as well and they exchanged hugs before he grabbed his jacket – it was beginning to get chilly out – and left. Restocking shelves at a store wasn't exactly a job he looked forward to doing everyday, but it paid the rent.

  


_“Wow...” Luffy breathed, looking up at the thick clouds overhead, puffs of fog escaping his lips. “Is this snow?”_

_“You've never seen snow before?” Zoro asked incredulously. Luffy was a figment of his imagination, so shouldn't he have the same experiences of everyday life that Zoro had, like experiencing annual snowfall?_

_Luffy shook his head. “Not in real life. Only in pictures.” His expression twisted for a second. “Pictures from my brother.”_

_Zoro didn't like seeing such a somber look on Luffy's face, but he wasn't exactly the kind of man to comfort people easily, so he did the next best thing. The look of complete shock Luffy wore was completely worth it when the snowball collided with his forehead. He stared wide eyed at Zoro before cackling and making his own snowball, managing to hit Zoro on the arm, even as he attempted to dive out of the way. Their snowball war lasted for what seemed like hours before they laid side-by-side in the freezing sheet of white on the ground._

_“Sabo is my brother's name,” Luffy explained, though he didn't sound upset. “He's traveling right now, beating up corrupt politicians.” His eyes darted over to meet Zoro's. “Don't tell anyone, though. He could get in big trouble.”_

_Zoro raised a hand and made an 'x' over his heart, which made Luffy smile. Zoro couldn't even imagine taking this conversation less than seriously and honestly, he was beginning to doubt that Luffy was just part of his dreams._

_“Hey, Luffy.” The younger man made a sound in response as Zoro's gaze returned to the sky. “I was thinking...I might try out for the next kendo competition.”_

_He knew Luffy's eyes were widening without even looking, so he continued before any protests could arise._

_“Ever since I stopped, my life has turned...gloomy. And I truly believe my dream of becoming the world's greatest swordsman is still worth fighting for. Even at the cost of my life.”_

_Luffy's hand was suddenly on his shoulder, squeezing it and catching his attention. The grin on Luffy's face was the widest one Zoro had ever seen._

_“Zoro, I know you'll achieve your dreams. And I'm here to cheer you on along the way.”_

_And that meant more to Zoro than Luffy would likely ever know, though he could begin to show just how much he appreciated it by giving a full smile for the first time since they met._

_“Alright. I'll sign up tomorrow. Wish me luck.”_

_Luffy's laugh echoed through his mind as he woke up._

_“You won't need it.”_

  


The competition was fierce, just like Zoro remembered it, and he was a little out of practice (okay, _really_ out of practice), but his muscle memory worked just fine and having to give his all in every fight helped to strengthen whatever parts of him may have weakened since he last lifted his swords. He got so tired after matches that he fell into dreamless sleep every time, and he missed talking with Luffy, but he knew that once he got through the last of the fights, he could tell Luffy everything.

“You're such an idiot, Roronoa Zoro!” Perona screeched at him through his phone over Skype, her pink hair longer than he remembered from the last time he was in Grandline City, home of the kendo finals arena and the world's greatest swordsman – plus his adopted daughter, Perona. “You can't beat him!”

“I won't know if I don't try,” he replied calmly. 

She sputtered, then began to pout. He smirked slightly at that – somethings never changed.

“Are you going to be there?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she sighed, pursing her lips, then smiling at him. “I'll be cheering you on, so you better win. I'll get your friends good seats. How many do you have, if any? You know what, just text me the number.”

Zoro just barely restrained himself from spitting his tongue out at her before she signed off. As he stopped in front of the correct building (he'd left the hotel hours earlier so that the city changing around him couldn't make him late), he noticed a slight figure standing a few feet in front of him, clad in all blue and a straw hat, and surrounded by a small group of people, one of which he recognized as martial arts master, Jinbe.

“Mm... Is this the right place, Nami?” the man mused aloud.

Zoro felt like his heart stopped right then and there.

“Of course it is!” the orange haired woman to his left huffed, sounding offended. “If this 'Zoro' person is real, and actually in this kendo thing, then this is the place he'd be.” 

“Miss Nami is correct, Luffy- _san_ ,” a tall, skeleton-thin man agreed, placing a hand on Luffy's shoulder. “Sanji, Pedro, Carrot, and Usopp should be here soon. Shall we head inside?”

“Yeah, I guess...”

As his friends began walking inside, Luffy moved to follow. Zoro tried to get his mouth to work, and managed a choked noise, but that was enough for Luffy to stop and turn.

“Zoro?!”

Luffy's friends turned back in time to see Luffy launch himself at Zoro, who caught him easily as the boy clung to him and babbled happily.

“I thought I wouldn't be able to see you before it began!” Luffy practically shouted. “You've really done it, Zoro!”

“It's... It's good to see you too, Luffy,” Zoro managed. It wasn't as surreal as he thought it'd be to meet Luffy in real life. “I have to go – the competition is going to start soon. But, afterwards--”

“I'll be waiting,” Luffy stated with a confident nod as he dropped off of Zoro, beaming.

“Head for the front rows,” Zoro advised. “I have a friend who can get you guys seats.”

With Robin, Chopper, and Franky included, there would have to be a total of eleven seats needed, so Zoro texted the number to Perona, and with one last hug stolen from him by Luffy, he was on his way to face the man who previously ended his fighting career. But there was a newfound confidence in his steps, and even if he didn't win, he would be giving it his all, with his friends cheering him on.

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N: This prompt from tumblr was used to base this story off of = Character A is used to having really lucid dreams, but there's a reoccurring person that Character A keeps running into. Character B interacts with Character A just as normally as if the two of them were awake, except they'll be in the most impossible situations -- in a zombie apocalypse, on the moon, horseback riding on the beach, etc.**   
>  **Character B is going about their normal, waking life when one day, they see Character A walk past them.**   
>  **Also, I was listening to Brother by Kodaline the whole time I was writing this (though honestly, it's more of an ASL song, _and I really suggest listening to it.)_**


End file.
